Any time a resources-based discussion related to motor vehicles comes up, I point out that the total iron ore that goes into a modern vehicle costs something li

Any time a resources-based discussion related to motor vehicles comes up, I point out that the total iron ore that goes into a modern vehicle costs something like $400, plus minus a few hundred dollars depending on the typical factors. Find me a car where, say, doubling the cost of that iron would materially impact the affordability of the final vehicle. You won't be able to, because the price of all modern vehicles is dominated by other factors: design, certification, manufacture, shipping, taxes, etc... Even batteries. Elon Musk pointed out that it's the lack of cell manufacturing capacity that's holding things up. Even if all of the input materials for a Tesla was suddenly free, its cost wouldn't decrease significantly.